Shed into Coop - Need Ideas & Suggestions

[clickdb]

My son and I are also converting a shed. It was built 70+ years ago and is rock solid, except for the roof. We are rebuilding the trusses and laying down a new roof. I'm still debating whether or not I should cut off access to the rafters. I love seeing all the coop builds and what elements are incorporated as well as the advice on flooring. Here's a picture of the shed, sans roof.

Great template to work from! I've been really fortunate for all the ideas in this thread; for example i would not have thought to block access to the rafters, probably until i walked under a chicken at the wrong time lol.

 

[16 paws]

My son and I are also converting a shed. It was built 70+ years ago and is rock solid, except for the roof. We are rebuilding the trusses and laying down a new roof. I'm still debating whether or not I should cut off access to the rafters. I love seeing all the coop builds and what elements are incorporated as well as the advice on flooring. Here's a picture of the shed, sans roof.

Love the shed.

It has so much character already! I get so excited to see all the ingenius ideas people are coming up with to recycle these older buildings. What a creative project to move thru. It does my heart good to see them useful again. And what better use than to give it to some beautiful birds that reward us with their funny little antics and fresh eggs.

I have to agree with the other post that says to block off the attic. I dont like my birds to get all up in there.

LOL
Enjoy your conversion....

Marie

 

[KissTheApex]

I'm so glad I found this thread!!!

Our new Red Star girls will hopefully be ready to go out into the coop in five or so weeks!

In the meantime, I'm trying to come up with a few different designs and plans.

In our backyard, we have this pretty much unused plastic utility shed. We dismounted one of the doors to remove a root underneath it, hence why its a bit wonky in the pic:



My plan is to use half of the shed for our three chooks, and the other half for moving/storage.

Right now I've started laying out the basis for a raised floor, so I can insulate/fence below the floor and hopefully keep pesky predators out.



Does anyone have any tips or tricks for this sort of project? I've got time (thankfully), but I don't want to wait too long on getting a home for my girls!

 

[16 paws]

I'm so glad I found this thread!!!

Our new Red Star girls will hopefully be ready to go out into the coop in five or so weeks!

In the meantime, I'm trying to come up with a few different designs and plans.

In our backyard, we have this pretty much unused plastic utility shed. We dismounted one of the doors to remove a root underneath it, hence why its a bit wonky in the pic:



My plan is to use half of the shed for our three chooks, and the other half for moving/storage.

Right now I've started laying out the basis for a raised floor, so I can insulate/fence below the floor and hopefully keep pesky predators out.



Does anyone have any tips or tricks for this sort of project? I've got time (thankfully), but I don't want to wait too long on getting a home for my girls!

I know not everyone will agree with me but I would leave the dirt floor. I love the DLM in my coop and run. It is so much easier to care for and all the beneficial micororganisms will compost the droppings. Just keep adding natural elements on top.

What if you dug down and put hardware cloth, then install pavers around the perimeter? Kind of like this picture.

That is what I would do.

Good luck
Marie

 

[curtisbirds]

I know not everyone will agree with me but I would leave the dirt floor. I love the DLM in my coop and run. It is so much easier to care for and all the beneficial micororganisms will compost the droppings. Just keep adding natural elements on top.

What if you dug down and put hardware cloth, then install pavers around the perimeter? Kind of like this picture.

That is what I would do.

Good luck
Marie

I have a metal shed that the floor had half rotted out already so when I got my four rescues, that was what I had available. So I pulled up what was left of the flooring and laid half inch hardware clothe down in it's place and covered that with a bale of alfalfa hay to start. It's been nine months now and all I do is rake out the front where they concentrate their dropping and pull the back bedding forward and back fill with fresh hay or straw starting in the nesting boxes and meeting up to the old bedding. My coop is pretty dust free also so due to great ventilation and never smells. If you do follow my example I'll give you a tip that I learned the hard way, till you get your bedding built up rake the straw or hay or whatever with the backside of the garden rake till you have established on permanent covering over the wire or you will pull it up. You will want a raised floor for the storage side though. Good luck and have fun, there's no point if you don't enjoy it.

 

[clickdb]

Good luck on your shed conversion! its got a lot of potential, its gonna turn out great! I agree with leaving the dirt floor, but if you are going to bury hardware cloth, there are lots of people warning about future rust and chickens digging it up.

I am picking up a bucket of the blackjack 57 today on my way home, hopefully this weekend i'll be able to stir and apply it!

 

[16 paws]

Good luck on your shed conversion! its got a lot of potential, its gonna turn out great! I agree with leaving the dirt floor, but if you are going to bury hardware cloth, there are lots of people warning about future rust and chickens digging it up.

I am picking up a bucket of the blackjack 57 today on my way home, hopefully this weekend i'll be able to stir and apply it!

Let me add that I would not put hardware cloth on the floor of the coop. I was talking about attaching it to the coop and aproning it out about 12 inches and then putting the pavers on top of that. I would run 2x4 around the bottom of the coop to attach it to. Does that make sense to anyone? Maybe I am not describing it right.

 

[clickdb]

So blackjack 57 is a pain in the ***** to apply! I learned quickly that it MUST be spread, rolling just picks it right back up. Once I figured that out, it went pretty fast, although there's a few spots that I tried to re-spread after a minute, and it tore it up. I need to touch up around the edges too.

 

[bbhorsefly]

What did you use to spread it/get it up the walls?

 

[clickdb]

Rollers, lol. After I figured out the spread/smear vs roll, I drove a couple screws into the end of the roller so it wouldn't roll. The floor was with a standard large "roller", and the walls with a 3 1/2" one. After it dries enough to go inside, I'll try the paint brush for the creases the rollers couldn't get, but I'm really not too optimistic that's gonna work well. This stuff is really thick.